Judge: "New evidence" not enough to free Calif. boy held in sister's killing

VALLEY SPRINGS, Calif. - A 14-year-old Northern California boy accused of fatally stabbing his 8-year-old sister was ordered to remain in juvenile detention Friday, despite arguments from the defense that new DNA evidence has surfaced that supports his innocence and he should be released.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Steve Plesser, one of the boy's attorneys, wrote that recently tested DNA found on the victim's body suggests that an intruder was responsible for the crime, as the boy has always claimed. Plesser said more testing is necessary prior to the case going to trial and asked that the teen be released pending that further testing.

On Friday, a judge denied that request, saying he didn't find the new evidence to be significant.

The boy, who CBS News is not naming due to his young age, has been incarcerated for nearly two years in connection with the April 2013 stabbing death of his sister, Leila Fowler.

The boy has pleaded not guilty to juvenile charges of second-degree murder and his mother, father and stepmother have said they believe he is innocent and had no motive to harm his sister.

Police say the boy was home alone with Leila on April 27, 2013, the day the killing took place. According to the motion filed this week, the boy called his parents around noon in hysterics and said an intruder came into the house and harmed Leila before fleeing.

It was later determined the girl had been "stabbed and slashed by a knife-like weapon more than twenty times," the motion says.

The brutal crime sparked a manhunt for the killer that spanned days and drew the attention of the FBI. Eventually, authorities zeroed in on Leila's brother and made an arrest.

In the motion filed this week, however, the defense contends authorities have the wrong person. They point to evidence that they say indicates the boy was telling the truth when he said an intruder was behind the attack.

The defense says there was no blood on the boy, his clothing or a kitchen knife - suggested by prosecutors to have been the murder weapon - and no evidence of a cleanup.

They also say an unknown male's DNA was found on a hair on the victim's body.

A tentative trial date in the case is set for May 18. Mark Reichel, another one of the boy's attorneys, said he and Plesser have not ruled out making another attempt to fight for the boy's release before trial.